Design for the Decoration of a Lunette on the Staircase, Hôtel de Pless, Berlin
second half 19th century
Medium
Gouache and oil on paper
Dimensions
sheet: 7 13/16 x 14 3/8 in. (19.8 x 36.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Dodge Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.827.153
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite preparatory drawing, titled *Design for the Decoration of Lunette on the Stair, Hôtel de Pless Berlin*, was created by French artists Jules-EdmondCharles Lachaise andène-Pierre Gourdet in second half of the th century. It captures the opulent spirit of grand European interiors during an era of lavish architectural embellishment, when hotels and private residences like the Hôtel de Pless in Berlin intricate decorations to impress elite visitors. The lunette—a curved wall space above a door or window—would have been a focal point on the staircase, highlighting the artists' skill i...
About the Artist
Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise|Eugène-Pierre Gourdet · 1897–1897
Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise, born Jules Lachaise on September 2, 1836, in Paris, emerged as a prominent French painter and draughtsman specializing in lavish interior decorations during the Second Empire and beyond. Little is known about his early life and formal training, though he married Berthe Gourdet in 1866, forging a close professional partnership with her brother, the decorator Eugène-Pi...